New Year's At Home
by VisualIDentificationZeta
Summary: SUMMARY: ringing in the new year stuck in traffic was not in Jack's plans. There were places he would've much rather been. Sequel to "Christmas at the office".


TITLE: New Year's At Home

AUTHOR: Vid Z.

PAIRING: Jack/Clarissa

DISCLAIMER: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc of the TV show Stargate: SG-1 are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author of this fic. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.

AUTHOR'S NOTES: First, I would like to thank all of you who reviewed the prequel. I was planning to write a sequel even while I was still writing that fic, but until today I didn't really have the exact idea what I should write, just a general idea of the time it should take place. So, I hope this is a worthy descendant to "Christmas at the office".

SUMMARY: ringing in the new year stuck in traffic was not in Jack's plans. There were places he would've much rather been. Sequel to "Christmas at the office".

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"For crying out loud, why the hell did I sell my bike?" growled Jack, his fingers drumming a rhythm on the leather seat.

"A bike wouldn't do you any good in this weather, sir." replied Captain Frederick Ghormley, House's driver, from the driver's seat where he'd heard the muttered... er... growled statement.

Jack had to admit Fred was right. Had he taken the bike to work and back home chances were he'd be spending the New Year's Eve in a hospital emergency room at best and morgue to worst. With the condition the roads were in and with so many drunks on the road his ride would've been short.

10 minutes later "Have we even moved at all in the last half hour?"

"I think we moved about 80 feet, sir."

"Great."

Getting stuck in traffic on New Year's Eve was not what Jack had had planned for this year. No, his plans had been a good company of friends and family, a couple of beers and everything that goes with ringing in a new year in style.

It was already 10 PM and Jack was cursing Hayes for making him late.

Deciding it would not be a good idea to make his driver nervous and irritated with fidgeting, impatient sighs and drumming fingers, he lifted the partition soundproof glass and turned on his private car-radio. Looking through his collection of CDs Jack picked out Mozart and set it to play Eine kleine Nachtmusik. He closed his eyes and tried to relax to heart-stirring sounds of violins, slouching comfortably on the plush seats of his private limo.

Yep, limo. He was a big shot now, his rank and position had him flying in the highest society circles.

' Highest only for the money and definitely not for humanity, humbleness or even morality. I've never seen a greedier, dumber, unscrupulous and more depraved lot of idiots.' he thought to himself. ' Not even the drug lords of South America or warlords of Third World countries, hell, not even the Snakeheads can measure up to them.'

And because he was now "lucky enough" to be sailing in these "special" circles he also had to be on the same level with them, prestige-wise. Hence the AF issuing him a fully-stocked limo, his own driver and a luxurious house in the suburbs. Where he was heading right now.

Well, more like, pointing in it's direction. Heading would mean he was moving. Which he wasn't.

At all.

The gentle strains of the music that would live forever, soon soothed him into slumber.

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Jack woke up to the sensation of the car stopping.

Running a hand down his face as he yawned he was startled by the beeping of the intercom.

"Sir, we're here."

Looking out the window he was surprised to see they'd actually finally arrived. Lowering the divider he patted the man on the shoulder "Thanks, Fred. Take the rest of the week off and have a happy New Year!"

The dark-haired man smiled "Thank you, sir, you too."

Since he was a big boy now he got out of the car himself, not waiting for Fred to open the door for him.

Waving as the long black vehicle pulled away from the curb he took strong steps towards his front door.

He was surprised when they opened suddenly, just when he was about to stick the key into the lock.

A dark Italian man, several inches shorter stood there and smiled at him.

"Jack! Finally! We thought you wouldn't get here this year." exclaimed his father-in-law elatedly.

They exchanged grins at the bad joke and shook each other's hands. Even now it still felt weird to Jack to have a father-in-law who was only a few years older than Jack. It had surprised him, but Paul hadn't hated him from the start. He had expected more of a reaction than the pleasant treatment he'd received, from the man who's young daughter was dating a man 21 years older than she was.

"Thanks, Paulie." looking around he noticed several other shoes in the foyer "How late is it anyway?"

"It's 20 to midnight."

Surprised, Jack turned to him "Damn, that jam was a long one."

"Jack!" the happy wail interrupted them. Jack turned to see Clarissa hurrying to him and widened his stance just in time for her to flung herself into his arms. Standing there for a second, luxuriating in the feel of his arms around her, she suddenly burst into loud sobs.

Over her head Jack could see Paulie roll his eyes and walk off, shaking his head.

She'd been doing that a lot recently, crying at the drop of a hat. It had first scared the crap out of him, especially since the first time it'd happened had been in the main lobby of the Bunker. It had been embarrassing, a two-star General holding a hysterically sobbing Lieutenant in his arms as she practically tried to crawl into his body so tightly was she pressing her face into his chest, but there was nothing to do but continue holding her and hope she'd calm down soon.

"Thank god Fred called! I was worried sick where you were."

He patted her back tenderly and kissed her hair "Hayes decided to drop in for a late visit and made us late. Then there was the traffic jam that you know about. Now, what do you say you let me go for a second so I can go greet the others and then change my clothes. Then you can go back to doing your impersonation of a tick once again." he grinned down at her as she blushed, but let him go anyway.

On the way into the living room they were intercepted by Clarissa's mother, Tsula. Tsula in cherokian means Fox. Well, the name was appropriate, since if you ever met Tsula, then you immediately knew where Clarissa's breath-taking beauty had come from.

"Hello, Jack." Tsula gave him a hug, kissing him on his cheek. "We thought you weren't going to make it."

"Hey, Tsula. Unfortunately the boss had other plans and stalled us at work. And then there was a traffic jam..."

Even though Tsula was still very beautiful at over 50 and had to be a knockout and heart-breaker when she was Clarissa's age, Jack didn't feel any attraction to her, never had.

The first time Clarissa had introduced him to her family he'd seen the wariness in her stiff posture, the tightness around her mouth and eyes, obviously fearing Jack would find Tsula more attractive, but thankfully she'd relaxed when she realized Jack was devoted to her and only her.

Following the two Cherokee women into his living room he greeted his two brothers-in-law and their girlfriends, his own sister with her husband, his own parents and finally the team. The augmented version. Daniel greeted him distractedly, busy giving a lecture on Babylonians to Clarissa's younger brother Frank who had a suffering expression on his face, Teal'c nodded solemnly and grabbed his forearm in the Jaffa custom, Carter greeted him subduedly; envy, regrets and what-ifs shining in her eyes; and Mitchell, Vala practically draped over him, greeted Jack and thanked him for being invited to the party, Vala echoing the sentiment. O'Neill smirked at the younger man, enjoying his discomfort, after the alien had had enough of Daniel's abrasive rejections she'd recalibrated her targeting reticles and soon found a new target for her attentions. She'd been more successful with Mitchell, who had caved after only a month, the undeniable attraction they'd felt from the start having weakened his resolve. Strangely, they were quite good together and everyone felt it was just a matter of time before wedding bells would be ringing. That is, if Mitchell didn't first kill Vala for taking advantage of any situation to embarrass him. Like now, nibbling on his earlobe while he was trying to talk to his CO...

Leaving the young couple behind (oh, to be that young again) Jack could finally go change his clothes.

He came back with only minutes to spare and was immediately grabbed by his wife, who sat him down in front of the dinner he'd missed. This was something he'd missed these last 10 years... having someone care about him, show it and care _for _him, have dinner ready when he came home and just give him the love he'd been craving and had been steadly denied from the woman he'd loved for too many years. When he was done she put the dishes and utensils into the machine and led him to his favorite couch, where she snuggled into his side, enjoying his scent, warmth and the feel of him at her side, gently massaging his back and neck while talking to their friends and family.

Jack had realized early on in their relationship that Clarissa was a very affectionate and touchy-feely person, she always tried to remain in physical contact with him. Either by holding his hand while walking, or snuggling into his side while watching TV, randomly kissing his cheek or lips, hugging him out of the blue, running her hand over his shoulders while walking past him, etc... there were many ways she achieved it. When they'd started dating and she became a little more secure in them, she'd almost overwhelmed him with her shows of affection. He'd been single for just too long and with Carter being deathly afraid of even accidentally touching him while sitting together, he'd been starved of human contact and affections for so long he'd in fact forgotten what they felt like and that they were quite normal and expected between two people with feelings for each other.

When the time came the whole group together counted down to 0 and errupted into cheers when the ball dropped. They started hugging, well-wishes were exchanged and some of them... well, they were taking advantage of the kiss-at-midnight tradition to make out. Jack could see Vala drag Cameron off into a corner, as he himself grabbed his wife's hand and dramatically pulled her into his arms, trapping her there, enjoying their full-body contact.

"Happy 2007." Jack whispered, gazing into Clarissa's eyes from mere centimeters away, still barely being able to believe they'd been together, that they'd been sharing their lives for more than a year already.

"You too."

Finally they couldn't fight the force that was drawing them together anymore, and their lips touched.

Had anyone told him a year and a half ago, hell, even 10 or 20 years ago, that he would've started dating a woman 21 years younger he would've laughed in their faces. Why would such a young woman, with her entire life in front of her, want _him _ of all people?

The kiss died of natural death when their oxygen ran out and for a few seconds they continued to gaze into each other's eyes with chemistry and love charging the air around them.

372 days ago he'd accepted an invitation to dinner and to spend Christmas with his vibrant, young, drop-dead gorgeous, single and intelligent ex-personal assistant. Who would've thought they'd end up in love and married.

'At least one good thing came from being tortured by Ba'al.' thought Jack as he felt no pain when went down to his knees and lovingly kissed and caressed the slight swelling of Clarissa's small belly. Her fingers burrowed into his hair as she massaged his scalp lovingly.

Who would've thought a couple of years ago, while he'd still been pining for Carter, or when he'd felt his heart breaking watching Carter with Pete, that he'd be ringing in 2007, married to a young, gorgeous, intelligent, compassionate, giving, generous and sweet woman, who was pregnant with his child?

"Happy New Year, kid. Can't wait to meet you." Rising back up again, enjoying the lack of creaking, he kissed his beloved wife, ignoring her tears that had started falling when he'd talked to their unborn child.

"I love you." he whispered.

"I love you too." she whispered back and smiled tenderly. Happiness and inner peace showed clearly in her eyes and smile. His greatest reward, her happiness. He made her happy. Nothing could ever feel as good as that.

No one. No one would've expected.

But that's the thing about life.

It happens when you least expect it.

THE END

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